Police: drunk teen driver damaged homes, car

A woman and her neighbors can’t believe how much a car crash damaged their homes and backyards. The crash happened around 8:30 p.m. Friday night (2/15/14) on the corner of South Chelton Road and Brentwood Drive in Colorado Springs.

Police say it involved a teenage drunk driver. Officers arrested 18-year-old Jorge Lopez for Careless Driving, DUI, and Vehicular Assault. Both passengers were taken to the hospital.

There were bricks practically everywhere around the homes where a truck crashed.

“I don’t even have words to describe. It looks like a bomb went off for me and my neighbor,” said homeowner Melissa Mitchell.

Mitchell has lived on South Chelton her whole life. She wasn’t home Friday night when someone called to say a car hit her house.

“I was thinking that somebody really went all the way through the house,” she said.

It was actually her garage. Colorado Springs Police say a teenager suspected of drunk driving smashed a truck into the garage, then continued and hit a car in the next-door neighbor’s driveway, and the truck landed on its side.

“The snow blower is completely damaged, all of the items that were on a shelf, the shelf is gone, were thrown all over the garage,” said Mitchell inside the damaged garage.

“Very, very scary. It’s a wonder one of them wasn’t killed or all three of them,” said neighbor Tony Lopez.

Lopez lives two doors down from Mitchell. He was home when he heard the crash.

“There was one guy standing outside the truck and one trying to get out and one standing up on top hollering that he had a broken arm,” said Lopez. “You could smell alcohol, totally.”

Lopez has lived on South Chelton for about 40 years.

“We’ve had quite a few accidents on this corner, but this is one of the worst ones,” he said.

The neighbor’s home between Mitchell and Lopez has had a car crash into the home before Friday.

“There’s actually been a car inside the house many years ago,” said next-door neighbor Brian Cullen.

A window was busted in the next-door neighbor’s garage and so was a window to the car inside. Lopez’s backyard got a beating.

“That brick hit awful hard and it even buckled the cross member and it separated some of the inside panels,” he said describing the backyard patio awning.

However, there is one bright side to this crazy story.

“I’m glad that no one was seriously injured or no one was walking by and ended up being hit by the car,” said Mitchell.

Mitchell is also very thankful she wasn’t home Friday night because her car would’ve been in the garage. It’s very likely she wouldn’t have a car.